Directed by Rodney Ascher (Room 237), The Nightmare is a documentary-horror film that explores the phenomenon of sleep paralysis through the eyes of eight different people.

Sleep paralysis is a transitional state between wakefulness and sleep. Those afflicted by sleep paralysis are seemingly trapped between the sleeping and waking worlds, unable to move but aware of their surroundings. Paralysis is often accompanied by disturbing hallucinations to which one is unable to react to.

Even though I tend not to believe most fan theories regarding hidden details and messages in certain classic films I have to appreciate the imagination and insight that goes into their creation. It’s amazing when your love of a movie inspires you to look at it again with a modestly skewed perspective to see what you may have missed before, and then to try and interpret what it all means. I may not buy into the theory that Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon functions as an alternate soundtrack to The Wizard of Oz, but for every five people who are told that same theory for the first time at least one of them will sneak away from the others to their nearest Barnes & Noble to grab the Moon CD and Oz DVD so they can test it out for themselves.

If you haven’t checked it out yet, my fellow G.O.D. standing for the horror fans, FamousMonster, put together an awesome 31 Days of Horror list to get you all ready for Halloween this year. While running through his list, I came across one film that grabbed my consideration immediately, for I had not seen it before: Room 237.

That’s because it’s a documentary, and not a horror flick. Not that I do not watch documentaries (I like a doco thing), but I’d just never seen it before. Room 237’s mission is simple – get in touch with as many Stanley Kubrick enthusiasts as possible and ask them to deliver their differed and in-depth interpretations of the filmmaker’s adaptation of Stephen King’s The Shining.

Room 237Being An Inquiry Into The Shining In 9 Parts
Directed by Rodney Ascher
Release Date: March 29, 2013 (limited)
Available now On Demand

To reduce or repudiate any of Stanley Kubrick’s films would be indescribably mindless. To this day, each one harbors an enduring legacy, not only because of their content, but also for their impeccable craftsmanship. Some are lauded more than others. But the majority of his films have startling subtexts, as fictional as some may initially seem, that cause many avid cinephiles to ruminate for countless of hours, maybe even years.

For those of you who – and there must be many – mismanaged and minimized The Shining‘s potency, submit yourselves to Room 237: Being an Inquiry into The Shining in 9 Parts (or Room 237 for short). It seeks to unearth and unravel conspiracy theories and deeply concealed subtexts that Kubrick either deliberately or arbitrarily instilled in his horror epic The Shining. Kubrick’s version (premiered in 1980) is far removed from Stephen King’s bestselling novel, gutting the majority of the book’s themes in exchange for his own dark visions (Kubrick came up with the idea to have The Overlook Hotel be built on an Indian burial ground). That film opened up to mediocre reviews, not attracting the slightest scholarly knowledge, cult following, or accolades it would attain years later.